| Letter from our Founder As a college student, I
was ill-equipped to choose what kind of work I wanted to pursue when I graduated. My
favorite subjects were math, computer science, and psychology, but there came a point
where I was forced to choose a career path that focused on either people or
machines. Without knowing much about myself or career options, the decision was made
almost as though by the flip of a coin. I graduated with a degree in math and
computer science and was employed as a software engineer. Yet my greatest interest
was, and still is, in people and psychology.
While I enjoyed and
excelled at designing and developing software, after working in the field for 10 years I
felt that something was missing. This, and my interest in psychology, lead me to embark on
a long journey into self and career exploration. Who I am and what was missing
started to come into focus, beginning with the discovery that my Myers-Briggs type is ENFP
-- not a common type for a software engineer. The self-exploration process involved
reading a multitude of career guidance books, attending career exploration classes, and
taking many personality tests, each revealing isolated pieces to the puzzle. I was
frustrated that there was no way to tie together everything I was learning about myself to
see which careers I was most suited to based on all these newly discovered
aspects of my personality. And I was disappointed when a number of tests suggested I
pursue some non-professional occupations, which did not appeal to me as a college
graduate.
As a software
engineer, the application seemed obvious. What I needed and wanted was a computer
program that would evaluate the important, relevant aspects of my personality and
integrate all the results to determine what I was best suited to do, from a large variety
of mainly professional careers. Using
state-of-the-art computer technology, it could be presented in a fun and engaging way,
like a computer game, that would make the self-exploration process appealing and
enjoyable.
And so Applied
Insight was born. My unusual combination of interests and aptitudes in both computer
programming and psychology, in addition to my as yet unfulfilled desire to help others,
resulted in the creation of the PinPoint Career Guidance System.
My hope is that
PinPoint will help people discover who they are and what careers they're best suited to so
that they are equipped to make good career choices early on, setting them on a clear and
certain path to personal fulfillment, job satisfaction, and success.
Sincerely,
Betty Newman
Founder and President
Applied Insight
[In case you
are wondering what PinPoint recommends for me... my personality profile strongly matches a
Human Factors Specialist, who deals with the human interface to machines -- essentially
psychology applied to machines. Interestingly, PinPoint is just that -- an
application of psychology to computers. Not surprisingly, what I've enjoyed most
about developing PinPoint has been the human factors design element -- designing the
program to be user-friendly and appealing, in order to make the computerized career
guidance process more accessible and enjoyable to all. I sincerely hope that I've
succeeded.]
Comments or suggestions on PinPoint? Please write me so that I can continue to improve
the product for future users. Thank you. |
